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HAPPY HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 





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A SikKi.i IN NM'n,-. 














































































































































HAPPY HOMES IN 
FOREIGN LANDS 

BY 

a:'A. METHLEY, F.R.G.S. 


LLUSTRATED BY 

W. H. HOLLOWAY 


NEW YORK 

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


{Printed in Great Britain) 



Gift 

PubliRfe«f 



0 


i 

• € 

• 4 

• « • 



CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I. STRANGE HOMES IN EUROPE 

• 

. 


PA.OK 

1 

II. STRANGE HOMES IN AFRICA 

- 

- 

- 

11 

III. THE ANTIPODES - 

- 

- 

- 

22 

IV. AMERICA - - - 

- 

- 

- 

32 

V. ASIA - - _ 

- 

- 

- 

43 

VI. CHINA AND JAPAN 

- 

- 

- 

53 

VII. INDIA 

- 

- 

- 

63 

VIII. CAVE-DWELLINGS - 

- 

- 

- 

73 

IX. MOVING HOMES - 

- 

- 

- 

83 

X. EGYPT 

- 

- 

- 

93 

XI. THE ARCTIC REGIONS 

- 

- 

- 

102 

XII. HOUSES IN TREES 

- 

- 

- 

112 


T 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAOB 

SWISS chAlet ------ 2 

SWISS MOUNTAIN HUT - - - - - 4 

ANCIENT HOUSE IN POMPEII - - - - 5 

VENETIAN PALACE - - . - _ 6 

RUSSIAN peasant’s HUT - « - - 9 

BEEHIVE HUTS OF THE KAMEROONS - - - 12 

IN ALGERIA - - - - - - 13 

ON THE HOUSE-TOP, NORTH AFRICA - - - 14 

HOUSES AND SHOPS, MOROCCO - - - - 15 

A KAFFIR KRAAL - - - - - 16 

IN THE FRENCH SUDAN - - - - 18 

AUSTRALIAN SETTLER’S HOME - - - - 24 

HUT OF AUSTRALIAN NATIVE - - - - 26 

A BUSH CABIN - - - - - - 27 

A MAORI HUT - - - - - - 28 

fisherman’s floating HOUSE < - - 29 

GRASS HUT OF FIJI ISLANDERS * - - 30 

INDIAN WIGWAM - - - - - 33 

PIMA INDIAN HUT - - - - - 34 

NAVAJO INDIAN - - - - - 35 

IN MEXICO - - - - - - 37 


VI 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


vii 

AMONG THE PUEBLOS - 


. 

. 

PAGE 

38 

MOSQUITO-PROOF HOUSE, PANAMA 

- 

- 

- 

41 

BALCONIED HOUSE, BAGDAD 


- 

- 

44 

COURTYARD OF A PERSIAN HOUSE 


- 

- 

47 

ON THE TURKESTAN FRONTIER 

- 

- 

- 

48 

THE AFGHAN BORDER - 


- 

- 

49 

IN BANGKOK, SIAM 


- 

- 

50 

A HOUSE IN THIBET 


- 

- 

51 

IN CHINA 


- 

- 

54 

A POOR CHINAMAN’S HOME 


- 

- 

55 

A STREET IN CHINA 


- 

- 

56 

IN JAPAN - - ' - 


- 

- 

57 

A JAPANESE ROOM 


- 

- 

59 

A STREET IN JAPAN 


- 

- 

61 

AN INDIAN peasant’s HOME - 


- 

- 

64 

A TODA hut - 


- 

- 

66 

A TOWN HOUSE, GWALIOR 


• 

- 

67 

HOUSE ON RIVER BANK, SRINAGAR 


- 

- 

69 

IN CEYLON 


- 

- 

70 

AMONG THE LUSHAI 


- 

- 

71 

AMONG THE SPANISH GIPSIES - 



- 

74 

CAVE-DWELLINGS IN THE CANARY 

ISLANDS 

- 

- 

76 

IN ALGERIA 

> 

- 

- 

77 

CAVE-DWELLINGS IN CHINA 

- 

- 

- 

78 

ALEXANDER SELKIRK’S CAVE - 

- 

- 

- 

79 

MEXICAN CAVE-DWELLINGS 

- 

- 

- 

81 

GIPSY CARAVAN 

- 

- 

- 

84 

MOTOR CARAVAN 

- 

- 

- 

85 



VUl 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 






FAOl 

DUTCH BARGE - 

- 

- 

- 

86 

ARAB TENTS 

- 

- 

- 

88 

BOER WAGGON - - - 

- 

- 

- 

89 

SIBERIAN NOMADS 

- 

- 

- 

90 

HOUSES OF SUN-BAKED MUD - 

- 

- 

- 

95 

A NURSERY AT THEBES, UPPER 

EGYPT 

- 

- 

96 

EGYPTIAN VILLAGE AND PIGEON-TOWER 

- 

- 

98 

THE LATE KHALIFA’S HOUSE AT 

OMDURMAN 

- 

- 

99 

SUDANESE HUTS 

- 

- 

- 

100 

A LAPLAND HUT 

- 

- 

- 

103 

LAPLAND TENTS 

- 

- 

- 

104 

A STOREHOUSE, LAPLAND 

- 

- 

- 

105 

GREENLAND SNOW HUT 

- 

- 

- 

107 

ESQUIMAUX TENT 

- 

- 

- 

108 

A KORYAK HOUSE, SIBERIA 

- 

- 

- 

110 

IN CENTRAL AFRICA 

- 

- 

- 

113 

HUT IN EAST CENTRAL AFRICA 

- 

- 

- 

114 

HOUSE BUILT ON PILES, JAVA - 

- 

- 

- 

116 

IN HOLLAND 

- 

- 

- 

117 

A TROPICAL BUNGALOW 

- 

. 

. 

119 


HAPPY HOMES IN FOREIGN 
LANDS 


CHAPTER I 

STRANGE HOMES IN EUROPE 

“ npHERE’S no place like Home.” We all 
I know the words of the old song, and, 
although of course every English child be¬ 
lieves that his own home is the nicest and prettiest 
in the whole world, it will perhaps be interesting to 
think a little about the strange dwellings where 
little boys and girls live in other lands. 

We will begin with Europe, as that is the nearest 
continent to England, and leaving behind us 
Franee and Germany, travel to Switzerland, 
whieh, with its snow-capped mountains, roeky 
valleys, and rushing streams, is one of the most 
beautiful countries in the world. 

The homes of the Swiss peasants are called 
ichalets, and with their steep roofs and wide, 

1 1 




2 HOMES m FOREIGN LANDS 


flower-filled balconies, they are very picturesque 
and well suited to their wonderful surroundings. 

Indeed, so new and spick-and-span are many of 
these little wooden houses, that they look as if 



SWISS CHALET. 


they had just been taken out of boxes and un¬ 
wrapped from their tissue-paper, like the toy 
chalets which we can buy in the shops of all Swiss 
towns. 

At first sight these dainty cottages hardly seem 






STRANGE HOMES IN EUROPE 3 


suited to the storms and frosts of a Swiss winter, 
but in reality they are very strongly built. The 
snow slips easily from the high-pitched roof, its 
wide overhanging eaves make useful shelters on 
either side for great piles of firewood, and large 
stoves keep the rooms inside warm and cosy. 

Often in winter-time the snow is so deep that 
the ground floor is completely buried, and then 
the family live on the upper story. This can be 
reached by an outside staircase which runs up to 
the wooden balcony. 

Large stones are always seen on the roof of a 
chalet, and these are put there to make it heavy, 
so that it may not be blown away when a strong 
wind sweeps down from the mountains. 

In the summer many of the Swiss peasants leave 
their homes and go up into the hills, where there 
are beautiful fields of grass, which are called 
‘‘Alps.” Here they live for several months in 
rough wooden huts, and spend their time in look¬ 
ing after the cattle and making the milk into 
cheese. 

Although the great mountains of Switzerland, 
.with their snow-covered peaks and wonderful 



4 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


glaciers, are very beautiful, they are dangerous 
neighbours, for masses of snow, or avalanches, 
often become loosened by the heat of the sun, and 
sweep down into the valleys, crashing through 



SWISS MOUNTAIN HUT. 


forests and burying houses or even whole villages. 
At other times landslips occur, when part of the 
mountain-side itself will slide downward, carrying 
everything before it. 

We must now leave Switzerland, with its beau- 





STRANGE HOMES IN EUROPE 5 


ties and its dangers, and go south into Italy, travel¬ 
ling across mountain passes, through cities, and 
along the shores of lakes, until at last we come to 
Naples. This place also has a dangerous moun- 



ANCIENT HOUSE IN POMPEII. 


tain as its neighbour, but it is fire, and not snow, 
that the people have to fear who make their homes 
within sight of the smoke-wreathed cone of 
Vesuvius. 





















6 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

The Neapolitan peasants, instead of living in 
low wooden cottages, usually inhabit tall, strongly 



VENETIAN PALACE. 


built houses in narrow streets. Some of these 
houses are many stories high, and the people have 





























STRANGE HOMES IN EUROPE 7 


to mount steep flights of stairs before their homes 
are reached. 

As may be imagined, the women cannot spare 
time to be running up and down stairs many times 
a day, so they have clever ways of saving them¬ 
selves this trouble. Men go about the streets 
selling fruit, vegetables, flsh, and other provisions, 
and, as they pass, baskets are let down on strings 
from the windows by women who wish to make 
purchases. There is usually a great deal of dis¬ 
cussion and disputing between buyer and seller 
before a bargain is struck, but at last the money is 
let down in the basket, which is then drawn up 
again, fllled to the brim with grapes, macaroni, or 
strange-looking flsh. 

In these districts, too, instead of a milkman 
calling at each house twice a day, a man or boy 
drives goats through the narrow streets, stopping 
at the house to milk them, and it is quite usual 
to see the goats entering houses, mounting the 
steep stairs, and being milked for customers who 
live on the different stories. 

Vesuvius, the famous burning mountain, or 
volcano, is only a few miles away from Naples, and 


8 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

at night the red glow of its lava streams may be 
seen. The inhabitants of the city are thus 
reminded of the terrible eruptions which have 
taken place in the past, when villages and towns 
have been destroyed. 

There was one such eruption in 1908, and, 
although the lava did not reach Naples itself, the 
whole town was covered for days with a dense 
cloud of smoke and ashes, and several villages 
nearer to the mountain were overwhelmed. 

Another terrible eruption took place in a.d. 79, 
when the two cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum 
were entirely buried. The first of these towns 
was covered with ashes, and, although it was 
hidden completely, its buildings were not des¬ 
troyed. The ashes have now been removed from 
a great part of Pompeii, and we can walk through 
the streets and into the houses where men, women, 
and little children lived more than a thousand 
years ago. 

In those days the people of England were little 
more than savages, who dressed in skins and dwelt 
in mud huts, but the Romans, who built Pompeii, 
were a highly civilised nation. It is very interest- 


STRANGE HOMES IN EUROPE 9 


ing to see their houses, in many of which there 
are statues and fountains, while beautiful pictures 
decorate the walls. 

In one place there is a baker’s shop, with the 



RUSSIAN peasant’s HUT. 


great ovens where bread used to be baked, and in 
the streets ean still be seen the deep ruts made 
by the chariot-wheels of Roman soldiers and 
patricians. 










10 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


There are many other strange homes in Europe, 
such as the old Venetian houses, whose marble 
steps lead down into canals instead of into streets, 
the Russian peasants’ huts, with their great stoves, 
and the Spanish houses, where the rooms are built 
round a central patio, or courtyard, but it is im¬ 
possible to describe them all now. Another time 
we must go still farther afield, and, crossing the 
Mediterranean, travel through the deserts and 
forests of Africa, and see how and where the little 
Arab and negro children live and work and play. 


CHAPTER II 

STRANGE HOMES IN AFRICA 
'RICA is a very large country, and in it we 



find many different kinds of homes, from 


the flat-roofed houses of the North to the 
quaint beehive huts—which seem to be all roof— 
of the Kameroons. 

In Algeria, Morocco, and the other lands that 
lie along the Mediterranean coast, many of the 
people live almost entirely on the flat roofs of 
their houses, and even sleep there during the hot 
summer months. Inside, these African homes 
are often dark, dirty, and unwholesome, but it is 
pleasant on the roof, where there is usually an 
awning spread, or a vine trained across wooden 
poles, as a shelter from the blazing sun. There 
the little Arab children may be seen in their 
gay-coloured garments, playing and chattering 
together, or helping their mothers to prepare food 
and wind wool for spinning. 


11 


12 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

Goats and fowls are often taken up on to these 
roof homes, and it is strange to look down on to a 
North African town from a hill or from the win¬ 
dow of a higher building. 

The ground floor of an Algerian or Moorish 



BEEHIVE HUTS OF THE KAMEROONS. 


house is often a shop, but it is not at all like an 
English store, being merely a little square room 
open towards the street. Here fruit, vegetables, 
jewellery, woollen and cotton stuffs, or groceries 
of various sorts are displayed. The salesman sits 







STRANGE HOMES IN AFRICA 13 

on the counter among his wares, praising them 
and chattering noisily as he bargains with intend¬ 
ing customers. 



IN ALGERIA. 


Sometimes these stalls are also workshops, and 
then a second man sits in the street outside, busily 
stitching red and yellow leather shoes, hammering 
delicate patterns on to brass or copper trays, or 







14 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

making the round felt caps that are worn by the 
Arab men and boys. 



ON THE HOUSE-TOP, NORTH AFRICA. 


Very curious wares may be seen exhibited in 
some of the native shops, and on the open stalls 
with which an African market-place is crowded. 




STRANGE HOMES IN AFRICA 15 


It is quite usual to see exposed for sale piles of dried 
locusts, live lizards, and all kinds of strange beads, 
weapons, and ornaments, that have been brought 
from distant countries by Arab traders. 



HOUSES AND SHOPS, MOROCCO. 


We must now leave North Africa behind us and 
journey southward, across the sand-hills of the 
Sahara, and into the swamps and tangled forests 
of the tropics. 












16 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


Here savages live in huts made of mud or 
leaves and reeds, and the villages are surrounded 
by strong fences which serve as a protection 



A KAFFIR KRAAL. 


against wild beasts and the attacks of hostile 
tribes. 

There are other dangers, too, that threaten the 
poor ignorant negroes of Central and West Africa, 







STRANGE HOMES IN AFRICA 17 


for often parties of Arab slave-dealers come down 
from the north, destroy the villages, and carry 
away the inhabitants as captives. 

In East Africa live a people called the Kikuyus, 
who have many curious customs and legends. 
These natives have always kept apart from other 
negro nations, and it is said that their homes and 
their ways of living have hardly changed at all since 
prehistoric times. 

The Kikuyus build themselves strong huts made 
of a thatch of reeds and grass on a wooden frame¬ 
work. These huts are clean and fairly comfort¬ 
able dwelling-places, although they have no win¬ 
dows or chimneys, while the only opening is the 
door, which is closed at night by a hurdle made of 
woven creepers. 

Round the interior of the hut, which is circular 
in shape, are bedsteads made of planks, and in the 
centre of it is a fire. 

These people are a nation of herdsmen, and at 
night the goats and sheep are always allowed to 
sleep in the huts of their owners. 

It is a very strange sight at sunset to see the 
animals making their way into the houses, stand- 

2 


18 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

ing round the fire and settling themselves under 
the rough, wooden bedsteads. 

In Somaliland, another distriet of East Africa, 



IN THE FRENCH SUDAN 


the huts are very primitive and uncomfortable, 
consisting simply of six posts, which are fixed 
into the ground, tied together, and covered with 
^woven mats. There is a small opening through 







STRANGE HOMES IN AFRICA 19 


which the inhabitants can crawl in and out, and 
through which, when a fire is kindled, the smoke 
escapes. 

The men of the Somali tribes are brave soldiers, 
but in times of peace they are very lazy, and leave 
all the work to be done by their wives and their 
slaves. It is quite usual to see one of these war¬ 
riors resting under a tree, and singing to himself 
a strange chant about the battles he has fought and 
the enemies he has slain, while the women do all 
the neeessary work of the camp. 

In Somaliland there is also a very strange tribe 
called the Bajun, who have a language and customs 
of their own. These people say that they are 
descended from Persians who, long ago, settled in 
the country. This story is very likely true, for, 
in the district where they live, the ruins of stone 
buildings have been found which are very much 
like the houses still made in Persia. 

In many other parts of East and West Africa 
there are remains of great buildings, which show 
that in old days the inhabitants of the land 
were very different from the ignorant savages of 
to-day. 


20 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


In South Africa live the Kaffirs, whose houses, 
or huts, are called ‘‘kraals.’’ These huts are 
made of mud, with thatched roofs. Like most 
native homes, they seem very bare and comfortless 
to English people, for in them are no chairs or 
tables. Indeed, there is generally no furniture of 
any kind, except a few mats, baskets, and pots 
and pans of clay or iron for cooking. 

The little brown Kaffir boys and girls, however, 
manage to live very happy and contented lives 
in these simple surroundings. They have toys, 
games, and even children’s parties, like their white 
brothers and sisters in far-away England. 

These parties are rather curious entertainments. 
The boys play games together and have a great 
feast, for which, sometimes, a whole sheep is 
cooked ; but the little girls, who deck themselves in 
all their best beads and ornaments for the occasion, 
are expected to amuse themselves quietly with the 
clay or wooden dolls, or to listen to stories which 
are told to them by an old woman. 

In spite of their games and their parties, life 
is not all play for the little Kaffirs, for, although 
many of them never go to school, they are taught. 


STRANGE HOMES IN AFRICA 21 


even when quite young, to make themselves useful 
to their parents. 

The boys act as herdsmen, and guard the sheep 
and goats as they wander about the plains and 
mountain-sides, later being given charge of the 
cattle, while the girls learn to cook, to make clay 
pottery, and to weave baskets and mats. 


CHAPTER III 

THE ANTIPODES 

ISTRALIA is a topsy-turvy country—we 



all know that. A country where June, July 


and August are winter months ; where the 
trees are blue instead of green, and never shed 
their leaves ; where the north wind blows hot, and 
the south wind cold; where, according to the shape 
of the globe, people ought to be walking with their 
heads downwards ; and where the birds, beasts and 
children are going to bed at the very time when 
the sun is beginning to rise over the woods and 
green fields of Old England. 

Certainly an upside-down land in every sense 
of the word ; but, all the same, if we sail eastward 
and land at Sydney, Melbourne, or Adelaide, we 
shall not, at first sight, find the houses and other 
buildings very different from those which we have 
left behind us “At Home,” as the Australians 
themselves would say. 

When we look round more attentively, however, 


THE ANTIPODES 


23 


we find differences even in the towns, while up- 
country and in the Bush many strange and inter¬ 
esting homes are to be seen. 

To begin with, Australia has a much warmer 
climate than England. For the sake of coolness, 
houses are built with wide verandas, which not 
only shelter the rooms from the blazing sun, but 
also themselves form pleasant open-air apartments 
in which the people live almost entirely during 
the summer months. Many Australian houses 
are built with only one story, like the bungalows 
of India and other tropical countries. These 
low rambling ‘‘cottages” look very picturesque 
against the blue-green background of the gum- 
trees. 

These pretty and comfortable homes are, of 
course, inhabited by the white colonists, but the 
real natives of Australia are the black savages, 
called Aborigines. To see these strange people 
we must leave the cities behind us and travel away 
into the wild places of the great island continent. 

Although Australia has now been an English 
colony for many years, the natives have never 
taken kindly to civilisation, and they are now 


24 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


gradually dying out. Those tribes that remain 
still keep their old customs, and their dwelling- 
places are among the strangest and most primitive 



AUSTRALIAN SETTLEr’s HOME. 


homes to be found in any land. Often, indeed, 
they are only rough screens from the wind and 
rain, and hardly even deserve the name of hut, 
being simply made of boughs of trees or sheets of 














THE ANTIPODES 25 

bark, and are open on one side towards the camp 
fire. 

Other huts are a little more elaborate, but even 
these can easily be made by a couple of men or 
women in half an hour. 

This is the way the natives set to work when 
they reach a suitable place in the forest or near a 
stream, and decide to make a new encampment: 

First, a number of the long stiff stems of the 
grass-tree are collected, and after being fixed into 
the ground are tied firmly together at the top, so 
that a framework is formed. A thick thatch of 
reeds or grass is then added to make the roof and 
walls, and the dwelling-place is complete. These 
huts are quite strong and will last for months or 
even years, but, when once the camp has been 
moved, new dwellings are built, and the natives 
never return to their old habitations. 

In some parts of Australia, cabins plastered with 
mud have been found, and the famous explorer, 
Eyre, tells of a village where the huts were dome¬ 
shaped and were made with substantial wood 
frames that were covered with turfs, the grassy 
side being turned outwards. 


26 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


In another district, a two-storied dwelling has 
been seen, the upper floor being intended for use 
during the rainy season of the year. 

In a native camp or village, tame animals—rats, 



HUT OF AUSTRALIAN NATIVE. 


bandicoots and opossums—are often to be seen. 
The children play with these creatures and tie them 
up at night, but as they are never fed the unfor¬ 
tunate pets soon die. Wallabies and emus, how- 






THE A^iTIPODES 


27 



A BUSH CABIN. 


ever, which are also kept in captivity, are allowed 
to wander about as they please and pick up food. 














28 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


The little Aboriginal children have many games, 
such as cat’s-cradle and a kind of hide-and-seek, in 
which one player hides a number of beans and the 
others hunt for them. They also, like children 



A MAORI HUT. 


all the world over, pretend to be animals and 
warriors, and have toy spears, arrows, and other 
weapons. 

The natives are not the only inhabitants of the 
“Bush”-—as the wild, uncultivated land and 







THE ANTIPODES 


29 


forest in Australia is called—for many white 
people now live there. Some are gold-diggers, 
and others are in charge of huge flocks of sheep 
and herds of cattle. 

The huts of these men are often found in lonely 



fisherman’s floating house. 


clearings in the Bush. They are strange little 
dwellings enough, being simply one-roomed 
cabins, made of planks with a wide wooden 
chimney, and a roughly shuttered window. 

Not far away from Australia in the South Pacific 








30 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


Ocean are the islands of New Zealand, which form 
another important British colony. Although 
these countries are near together in point of dis- 



ORAS8 HUT OF FIJI ISLANDERS. 


tance, in other ways they are far apart, the 
animals, plants, natives, and climate being 
different. 

The original inhabitants of New Zealand are 



THE ANTIPODES 


31 


called Maoris. They are a fine and intelligent 
race, being much more like the people of the South 
Sea Islands than like the Australian natives. 

Instead of rough shelters of rushes and boughs, 
these Maoris live in well-built huts, which are often 
decorated with elaborate carvings. 

A New Zealand village is usually surrounded by 
a strong fence or stockade, and besides the huts 
it contains a storehouse where quantities of wood 
are kept. The storehouse is shaped like a dog- 
kennel, and is generally painted a bright red 
colour. It is mounted on high posts, so that the 
contents shall be secure from animals and thieves. 

Other curious dwelling-places in the Antipodes 
are the floating homes of the fishermen who col¬ 
lect the beche-de-mer, or sea-slug, which is con¬ 
sidered a great delicacy in China and other 
Oriental countries; and the large grass huts of the 
Fiji islanders. These huts are most beautifully 
made with steep thatched roofs, and they are often 
as much as forty feet in height. 


CHAPTER IV 

AMERICA 

N owadays, if we go to the United 
States or to Canada, we shall find houses 
that are very much like those which we 
have left behind us in the cities and villages of 
England, but, in former times, things were very 
different. The great continent was then inhabited 
by wild, lawless savages, and some of the strangest 
homes in the whole world are to be found in the 
forests and on the vast plains of North America. 

When the first explorers landed on the shores 
of the new land, they believed that they had 
reached India, so they called the natives Indians. 
This name has remained, but now there are not 
very many of these old inhabitants left. To find 
them, and learn something of their habits and 
homes, we must journey up to the far North, or 
go to the Reserves, which are tracts of land set 
apart for the Indians in different districts of the 
country. 


32 


AMERICA 


33 


Many of the natives have adopted the habits and 
dress of their white conquerors, but others still 



cling to old customs and live in tents and huts, as 
they did hundreds of years ago, before Sebastian 

3 








34 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


Cabot or Columbus sailed westward aeross the 
Atlantie Oeean in quest of a new world. 

Perhaps the best known of all the Red Indian 
homes is the wigwam, whieh is a eireular tent made 
of a pointed framework of wood, eovered with 
dried skins of animals or with bireh bark. In old 



PIMA INDIAN HUT. 


times some of these wigwams, espeeially those of 
the Crow tribe of Indians, were very large, and 
would hold as many as fifty men. They were 
gaily painted on the outside, and deeorated with 
fringes and embroideries of coloured porcupine 
quills. 






AMERICA 


35 


An Indian encampment looks very picturesque 
when seen from a distance, but nearer at hand it 
is not so attractive. The narrow passages between 
the huts are dirty and littered with rubbish of all 



NAVAJO INDIAN, 


sorts, and fierce dogs are allowed to wander about 
as they please. 

Other Indian huts are made of reeds and grass, 
and look very much like the beehive dwellings of 




36 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


Central Africa, while some, again, are built of 
dried mud, and have no windows, only an opening 
for a door, and a hole in the roof, through which 
the smoke of the fire is allowed to escape. 

There is practically no furniture in these strange 
homes, and English boys and girls would think 
them very rough and uncomfortable, but the 
Indian children lead happy lives in the warm 
summer months, and have many games in the 
forests and streams of their native land. 

In winter, however, the children have to share 
the hardships of the grown-up people, for the 
weather is often terribly cold. Food is scarce, and 
fierce gales and snowstorms sweep down from 
the frozen Arctic regions. 

We must leave the north now, and travel south¬ 
ward until we come to Mexico. This is one of the 
strangest countries in the whole world, for, long 
ago, even when it was discovered by Europeans 
in the sixteenth century, this land was highly 
civilised, and its people were skilled in the arts of 
sculpture and architecture. 

Now everything is changed, and the great build¬ 
ings and temples of the past are heaps of ruins. 


AMERICA 


37 


The Indians, or Pueblos, as the descendants of the 
ancient Mexicans are called, are an interesting 



IN MEXICO. 


race, and among them traces can still be found of 
the knowledge and culture of their ancestors. 
Most of the houses in Mexican towns and vil- 













38 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 



AMONG THE PUEBLOS. 

lages are built of adobe, or dried mud. Some of 
them are very picturesque, for they are white¬ 
washed, or painted in bright colours, and they 






AMERICA 


39 


often have two, three, or even six stories. The 
roofs of the houses are flat, and, at a short distance, 
a Mexican town looks very much like the Arab 
cities of Tunisia and Algeria. 

Among the different tribes of Pueblo Indians 
that are scattered over the country, many very 
curious dwelling-places are found. The Cora 
Indians, for instance, live in little stone huts which 
have no windows, and therefore are unbearably 
hot and stuffy, whilst the inhabitants of the forest 
districts build themselves strong cabins of logs with 
steep gabled roofs. These roofs, like those of the 
Swiss chalets, are kept in place by rows of heavy 
stones. 

The Mexican Indians live happily and con¬ 
tentedly in their simple homes, for they are a 
cheerful race, as a rule, and are fond of games 
and sport. Shooting-matches with bows and 
arrows are very popular, while both men and 
women are good runners and often join in races. 
A foot-race generally begins at noon and lasts for 
four hours or longer. No prize is given to the 
wdnner in the contest, but he is greatly praised and 
admired by the spectators, who, while the race is 


40 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


going on, make bets with each other as to its 
result. 

The little Mexican children also have their own 
amusements, and are given roughly-made dolls 
and stuffed squirrels as playthings. 

The Pueblos are very fond of their children, and 
treat them with great kindness, no child ever being 
beaten or punished in any way. As may be 
imagined, the little ones, in consequence, are often 
very much spoilt, but they are merry, gentle little 
creatures, and, as they grow older, they soon learn 
to make themselves useful to their parents. The 
boys are taught by their fathers to shoot and hunt, 
while the girls learn to spin, to weave the blankets 
which are worn as garments by both men and 
women, and to embroider. 

One of the most curious towns in the whole of 
Mexico is Laguna, which is situated on the sum¬ 
mit of a high cliff, and in old times was a strong 
fortress. 

In this place the houses have no doors or win¬ 
dows on the lower floor, and the upper stories can 
only be reached by ladders, which are drawn up 
after the inhabitants have ascended to their homes. 


AMERICA 41 

In the floor of the higher story are openings 
which lead down to the lower rooms. These are 
used as storerooms for food and fodder. 



MOSQUITO-PROOF HOUtE, PANAMA 


In some villages the houses are all built round 
an open square, or courtyard, where the inhabi¬ 
tants of the different dwellings meet together. 
There are no chairs or tables in the homes of 






42 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

the Pueblos, but dried skins of animals are spread 
on the hard mud floors, and these serve as seats, 
beds, and carpets. The walls are hung with bows, 
arrows, and other weapons, and on the floor are 
ranged rows of flat dishes, cooking-pots, and 
gourds for water. 

We go south again, and instead of Mexico, with 
its relics of ancient art and ancient civilisation, find 
ourselves in Panama, where marvellous triumphs 
of modern skill and science are to be seen, for here 
is the great canal which joins the Atlantic with the 
Pacific Ocean, and makes a short cut from Europe 
to the Far East. 

Panama is a tropical country, and is very un¬ 
healthy, but lately it has been discovered that the 
infection of the deadly yellow fever is carried from 
one person to another by mosquitoes. 

The houses of the district, therefore, are now 
furnished with outside screens of wire gauze, so 
fine that none of the dangerous insects can get 
through into the rooms within. 

These mosquito-proof buildings look just like 
huge meat-safes, and that is what they are called 
by the people who live in them. 




CHAPTER V 

ASIA 


A SI A is the largest continent in the world, 
and it is inhabited by many different 
nations, so, as is only natural, we find in it 
all sorts of strange dwelling-places. There are 
the elaborate balconied houses of Bagdad, which 
look as if Aladdin himself might have dwelt in 
them; and there are the miserable, mud-built 
hovels of Turkestan. There are the tents of the 
Siberian nomads, among the ice and snow of the 
Arctic regions; and, many thousand miles away, 
we find palm-leaf huts in the dense shade of 
tropical forests. 

North, south, east, and west—black men, white 
men, brown men, and yellow men—it is difficult 
to know where to begin or which curious homes to 
describe. 

We will go to the eastern countries first, coming 
as we do from Europe, and, landing at Jaffa or 
Beyrout, make our way through Syria to the 
43 


44 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


mountains of Lebanon. Here live a strange war¬ 
like race called the Druses, who have their homes 



BALCONIED HOUSE, BAGDAD. 


high up on the hilltops, often hidden by thick 
clouds from the sight of dwellers in the valleys 
beneath. 









ASIA 


45 


In a Druse village the houses are built on a steep 
slope, and look, with their flat roofs, like the steps 
of a great stairease. 

They are clustered closely together, the roof of 
one forming the courtyard of another, and are 
made of stone and wood, thickly plastered over 
with yellow clay. The dwellings are very rough 
and uncomfortable, one opening serving both for 
door and window, and instead of cupboards and 
shelves there are holes scooped out between the 
stones of the walls. 

The houses of the sheikhs, or chief men of the 
villages, are rather better built. These some¬ 
times have two stories, the lower floor being used 
as a cattle-shed. The outside of a Druse dwelling 
is decorated with rough patterns scratched on the 
clay wall, and there is usually a projecting bin, or 
trough, for corn. 

Coming down from the mountains, we travel 
eastward again and come to Mesopotamia, which 
lies between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. This 
is a very dry, barren country, and as there are no 
trees, the dome-shaped houses are made entirely 
of sun-baked bricks. Each home consists of 


46 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


several of these beehive-like huts, two or three 
being oecupied by the family, while the eattle have 
one to themselves and another is used as a store¬ 
house. 

We cross a range of mountains now, and enter 
Persia, and here, in the towns, we find many large 
and well-built houses. These look ugly and un¬ 
interesting from the outside, but, when the 
entrance is passed, they often prove to be well fur¬ 
nished and even luxurious, according to Eastern 
ideas. The rooms open into courtyards filled with 
flowers, and there are fine carpets and hangings. 
The women have their own rooms, and when they 
go out they wear veils, and large cloaks which 
cover them from head to foot. 

The poor people in Persian towns spend most 
of their time out of doors, while carpenters, 
barbers, and even bakers can be seen at work in 
the road outside their little shops. 

North of Persia is Turkestan, where we see the 
primitive mud-built homes of the Turkomans, a 
wild, savage race, who make raids across the 
border and are a terror to their neighbours. Be¬ 
cause of this danger, the villages on the frontier are 


ASIA 


47 


built like forts, circular in shape and surrounded 
with an immensely strong wall. These walls are 



COURTYARD OF A PERSIAN HOUSE. 


often twenty or thirty feet thick and forty feet 
high. There is only one entrance, and this, besides 
being too narrow to allow a man on horseback to 





























































48 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


pass through, is protected by a granite door. The 
dwelling-houses in these curious villages are built 
on the summits of the walls, the enclosures within 



ON THE TURKESTAN FRONTIER, 


being filled with rough sheds in which cattle are 
kept. 

In order that people may be able to pass from 










ASIA 


49 



THE AFGHAN BORDER. 


one house to another, there is a rough balcony 
which encircles the outside of the wall. This is 

4 






50 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


made of interlaced branches of trees plastered with 
mud, and although it has no rail, women and little 
children use it fearlessly. 

From Persia we go to Afghanistan, and here 



IN BANGKOK, SIAM. 


the people fight not only with their neighbours, 
but among themselves, two men in the same vil¬ 
lage, or even in the same family, often being 
deadly enemies. Therefore we find that the 












ASIA 


51 


houses are strongly built, and that the men carry 
guns even when they work in the fields. 

To the north of India, and beyond the great 
barrier of the Himalaya Mountains, lies Thibet, a 
strange country which, until latelv, has been 



A HOUSE IN THIBET. 


visited by very few travellers. The towns ana 
villages are often perched on high pinnacles of 
rock, the sides of which are so steep that it seems 
as if only birds could possibly reach the quaint, 
inaccessible dwelling-places. The religion of the 








52 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


people of this country is Buddhism, and there are 
many large monasteries, where monks, called 
lamas, live. The monasteries are large, imposing 
buildings, with the walls sloping inwards. They 
are generally situated on the summits of hills, and 
round them are fortified towns or scattered houses. 

We leave the mountains and travel southward, 
across India, until we come to Siam, a beautiful 
tropical land of blue skies, blazing sunshine, and 
graceful palm-trees. Here, instead of being made 
of solid stone, the houses are lightly built of canes 
or bamboos, with roofs of interwoven grass or 
palm leaves. The people here are a cheerful, 
light-hearted race, vain, and fond of gay-coloured 
clothing and amusement. 

Children in Siam, as in most of the countries 
of southern Asia, are very kindly treated, and lead 
happy lives. They play half naked in the sun¬ 
shine, or, on festival days, are dressed up like little 
men and women, buying sweetmeats, watching 
dances and games, or staring, wide-eyed, at 
elaborate illuminations and fireworks. 


CHAPTER VI 

CHINA AND JAPAN 

F ar away, on the east of Asia, are two great 
countries, China and Japan, and in them we 
find curious and interesting homes which are 
unlike any others in the whole world. 

The Chinese have for many hundreds of years 
been an educated and civilised people, and 
although their customs and ideas are different 
from those of Europe, in many arts and manufac¬ 
tures they are unrivalled. The porcelains, silks, 
and enamels of China are wonderful, and in the 
houses of the rich mandarins of Pekin, Canton, 
and the other great cities, exquisite ornaments 
and pieces of furniture are to be seen. 

Chinese dwelling-places, however, according to 
our Western notions, are uncomfortable, for they 
are very draughty. The window-panes are made 
of paper instead of glass, and, except in the 
northern districts, the houses are not heated. In 

5S 


54 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


the north, where the winters are very cold, rooms 
have a raised platform made of brickwork at one 
end, in which are charcoal fires. On this platform 



the people sleep, lying on mats with their heads 
supported by little pillows of bamboo or lacquered 
wood. 















CHINA AND JAPAN 


55 


The homes of the poorer classes in China are 
damp, dirty, and unhealthy. Indeed, they are 
often merely windowless hovels of mud or stone. 

As a rule, in Chinese homes there is only one 
cooking utensil, this being a large earthenware 



A POOR Chinaman’s home. 


pot or basin set in masonry with a fire of charcoal 
under it. Only one dish, therefore, can be pre¬ 
pared at a time. Cooked food and hot water are 
often sold in the streets. In warm weather the 
Chinese live almost entirely out of doors, and use 
the part of the road in front of their houses as if it 




56 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 



A STREET IN CHINA. 


























CHINA AND JAPAN 


57 


^vere their own property. This makes the streets 
almost impassable, especially as they are always 



very narrow and crowded with foot passengers, 
carriers, and sedan-chairs. 

Japan in some ways is like China, but of late 
many changes have taken place, and European 











58 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

habits, ideas and costumes have been adopted. 
There are still, however, many homes to be seen 
that are entirely Japanese, and men, women and 
children continue to wear the quaint, pic¬ 
turesque clothes that we know so well. 

A Japanese house is one of the prettiest and 
daintiest in the world, and rather reminds us of a 
Swiss chalet, with its wooden walls and wide, over¬ 
hanging roof. It is often surrounded with a 
fenced garden, and near the door is a little 
enclosure in which outdoor shoes are left. As the 
Japs say, they do not make streets of their homes, 
and visitors must always take off their shoes before 
entering a house, or else put on loose straw slippers 
which, at native inns, are provided for the pur¬ 
pose. Inside the dwelling the floor is covered 
with fine straw mats. These are yellow in colour 
and are always the same length and breadth, so 
that the size of a room is calculated by the number 
of mats required, and is called a six-mat or an 
eight-mat apartment. There are no inner walls 
to a Japanese house, but movable screens of paper 
are used to divide the rooms from each other. 
The furniture in these dainty homes is very simple 


CHINA AND JAPAN 59 

and scanty, for there are no large tables, arm¬ 
chairs, or thick carpets. The people sit on the 



A JAPANESE ROOM. 


floor on wadded cushions, and there is usually a 
little wooden stand or table about twelve inches 
high, on which food or a tea-tray can be set. The 






















60 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


room has for ornament a single picture or a vase 
of artistically arranged flowers. 

The Japanese are a cheerful, contented race, 
and they have many festivals and amusements. 
There is, perhaps, no country in the world where 
children are treated so kindly, and very pretty the 
black-eyed little creatures look in their bright- 
coloured dresses and carrying their toys and dolls. 
May 5th is the festival of the little boys, when 
picnics and children’s parties are held. In 
November the girls have their turn, for then 
comes the feast of dolls, when numbers of gor¬ 
geously dressed dolls, which have been handed 
down from mother to daughter for generations, 
are arranged in rows in the houses and provided 
with miniature furniture and toy tea-pots. 
Japanese children are now being taught European 
games, so perhaps, before long, the picturesque 
old customs and festivals will be forgotten. 

A street in Japan presents a very gay and 
animated scene, for coloured signs, flags, and lan¬ 
terns hang in front of the shops, while the narrow 
passage between the buildings is crowded with 
buyers and sellers. There are costermongers 


CHINA AND JAPAN 


61 


carrying their merchandise in baskets suspended 
on long poles, women with babies strapped to 



their backs, and schoolboys wearing a quaint mix¬ 
ture of Oriental and European costumes. 












62 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


The Japanese are very fond of flowers, and in 
the spring there are elaborate festivals in honour 
of the cherry and plum blossom, when everyone 
crowds out of the cities to see the fruit-trees 
covered with their masses of pink and white bloom. 

It is strange to think that these smiling, 
pleasure-loving people belong to a nation which is 
rapidly throwing off its old customs, and has 
already an army and a navy which bid fair to rival 
those of the Western World. 


CHAPTER VII 

INDIA 


I NDIA, which is one of the most important of 
all the great British possessions, is also per¬ 
haps the most interesting. It has, indeed, 
always been a land of romance and mysterious 
splendour, ever since the old days when brave ex¬ 
plorers from England, Portugal, and Holland 
travelled eastward through the deserts of Asia, or 
set sail in their little ships across the unknown 
Atlantic Ocean, in order to find a new and short 
route to the wonderful ‘‘ Indies.” 

The very name of India calls up pictures of 
rajahs’ palaces, with gilded halls and jewel-studded 
ceilings ; but if we want really to see the Hindoos 
at home, we must turn aside from the residences 
of the princes and nobles, with their strange 
mixture of Oriental magnificence and European 
luxury, and go into the narrow streets of the cities, 
63 


64 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


and into the humble villages of the plains and 
mountains. 

Town houses in India are often large, with 
carved wooden balconies or facades decorated with 
delicately patterned stucco. The exteriors of 
these buildings are beautiful and imposing enough, 



AN INDIAN peasant’s HOME. 


but inside as a rule we find dirt and squalor, steep, 
ill-ventilated staircases, dingy rooms, and win¬ 
dows which, although screened with exquisite 
carved work, admit very little fresh air or sunlight. 

The women in a Hindoo family live apart, their 
portion of the home being called the zenana, and 













INDIA 


65 


on the rare occasions when they go out they are 
closely veiled. The nfe led by these women is 
very dull and monotonous, for they are married 
when quite little girls, and are as a rule almost 
entirely uneducated. Even when grown-up they 
are strangely foolish and childish, delighting in 
gay clothes and elaborate jewellery, eating quan¬ 
tities of sweetmeats, and sometimes even amusing 
themselves with dolls and other playthings. 

Among the most picturesque of Indian town 
homes are the tall houses on the river banks at 
Srinagar, with their flat roofs, on which grass and 
flowers grow luxuriantly. 

Peasant life in India is very different from that 
of the townsfolk, and village homes are as a rule 
mere mud-built hovels surrounded by fences of 
reeds or plaited grass. This fence is intended as 
a screen, not a protection, and in the little 
enclosure which it forms much of the work of the 
household is carried on. We see women there 
grinding corn, spinning, or preparing curry, little 
girls learning to help their mothers, and brown, 
bright-eyed babies playing happily in the warm 
dust. 


5 


66 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


Among the mountains of Hindustan, where 
the natives are still wild and uncivilised, some 
very strange homes are to be found. The most 
curious perhaps are the huts of the Todas in the 



A TODA HUT. 


Nilgheri Hills. A Toda hut, which is much like 
half an overturned barrel in shape, is made with 
the walls and roof in one. There is no window, 
and the doorway is so small that the occupants 










INDIA 


67 





A TOWN HOUSE, GWALIOR, 







































































































































68 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


have to enter on their hands and knees. Inside, 
when our eyes become accustomed to the gloom, 
we see a rough mud platform surrounding the 
walls, and on this the members of the family sleep. 

A Toda village consists of a group of these 
strange dwelling-places, the whole surrounded by 
a strong wooden fence, which is a safeguard 
against the attacks of wild beasts or of enemies. 

The Todas are dairy farmers. Milk is their 
chief food, and they look upon the buffalo as a 
sacred animal. When the grass in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of their village is exhausted, they move 
away to fresh pastures and build themselves new 
homes. 

Other strange Indian dwellings are those of the 
Lushai, which are built in almost inaccessible posi¬ 
tions on the steep slopes of mountains. They are 
made of wood, and are erected on curious plat¬ 
forms which project from the hillside. A Lushai 
village sometimes consists of as many as a hundred 
and fifty houses. They are fairly clean, although 
pigs, fowls, and dogs roam about at will up and 
down the steep paths and among the supporting 
posts of the .wooden platforms. 




INDIA 


69 



HOUSE ON RIVER BANK, SRINAGAR 



















































70 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


In the south of India and among the palm- 
groves of tropical Ceylon we find very different 
homes, built of wood or of bamboos, and with 
thatched roofs. 



Across the great Bay of Bengal is Burmah, 
Further India as it is sometimes called, and here 
lives a race of gay, light-hearted people, who, with 
their smiling faces and bright-coloured garments, 
seem more like the Japanese than the Hindoos. 












INDIA 


71 

The homes of Burmah are very picturesque, 
being raised above the ground on posts. There 
is a veranda, and here a cradle for the baby is 
generally to be seen, suspended from the roof. 



AMONG THE LUSHAI. 


Babies play an important part in Burmese home- 
life, and there is perhaps no country in the East 
where they are so much petted and indulged. 
Until children reach the age of seven years they 












72 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


are allowed to play all day long, they are dressed 
in elaborate elothes, and are even given large 
cheroots to smoke. When they grow older the 
boys are sent to school, and the little girls learn 
to make themselves useful at home. 


CHAPTER VIII 

CAVE-DWELLINGS 


T housands of years ago, in the days 
when Europe was eovered with dense forest 
and dangerous swamps, the men and women, 
instead of building themselves houses, lived in 
caves and hollows in the rocks. These are the 
oldest known dwelling-places, and caverns are now 
often discovered which show traces of their former 
inhabitants, such as charred bones, flint weapons, 
or implements, and pictures of deer, mammoths, 
or other animals roughly scratched on the rock 
walls. 

Some of these caves have been found near 
Santander, in Spain, and here may be seen por¬ 
traits of horses and buffaloes which were drawn, 
and skilfully drawn too, by the artists of the Stone 
Age twenty-five thousand years ago. 

The huge mammoths and many of the other 
strange animals of the far-off days are extinct now, 
but there are still cave-dwellers to be found, even 
73 


74 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


in Europe itself. Among the best known and 
most interesting of these are the gipsies of 
Granada. 

Gipsies, as we all know, have the character of 



AMONG THE SPANISH GIPSIES. 


being thieves and vagrants, and this was the case 
in the Middle Ages as it is to-day. 

The inhabitants of the great Spanish city of 
Granada would not have the gipsies living in their 
midst, and so, hundreds of years ago, they were 
expelled. Instead of leaving the country, they 















CAVE-DWELLINGS 75 

made homes for themselves in the caves of some 
rocky hills that lie just outside the town. ‘ 

There they, or rather their descendants, still 
live, and visitors to Granada driving through the 
district are shown the quaint little cave homes on 
the sunny hillside. The gipsies seem to be quite 
happy and comfortable in their strange dwelling- 
places, and, through the doorways, glimpses can 
be caught of cosy rooms with chairs and tables, 
and with bright pictures on the walls and gay- 
coloured curtains fluttering at the little rock-hewn 
windows. 

From Spain we go southward to the Spanish 
colony of the Grand Canary, and there we And 
the wonderful cave village of Atalaya, which is 
situated at a distance of about eight miles from 
Las Palmas. 

Nearly six hundred years ago, when the Canary 
Islands, or the Fortunate Islands, were discovered, 
stories were told of savages who lived in caves and 
burrows in the rocks. Perhaps the present cave- 
dwellers are descended from these Gouaches, as 
they were called, but this is not quite certain. 

The caves of Atalaya vary very much, some of 


76 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


them being merely rough holes in the rocky moun¬ 
tain-side, while others have had walls built in 



CAVE-DWELLINGS IN THE CANARY ISLANDS, 


front, porches added, and open spaces covered in 
with roofs. 

The Canary Island cave-dwellers are a strange, 
lawless race. They are lazy, too, and instead of 
working they prefer to sit in the sun outside their 













CAVE-DWEI.LINGS 77 

little homes and beg for money from the tourists 
who come up from Las Palmas to visit the village. 



IN ALGERIA. 


Atalaya is really one of the most curious places 
in the world, for the caves are hollowed out one 





































78 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

above another, making it look like a huge ant-hill 
or rabbit warren. Narrow tracks lead through 
the village, sometimes crossing over one home 
and tunnelling under another. The whole scene 
is very picturesque and full of colour. Flowers 



CAVE-DWELLINGS IN CHINA. 


and curious cactus-plants grow in front of many 
of the caves, the dress of the women is brightened 
by the gay handkerchiefs that they wear twisted 
round their heads, long lines of clothes hang out 
to dry in the wind or are spread on the rocky 
ground, and away in the distance is a beautiful 





CAVE-DWELLINGS 


79 



ALEXANDER SELKIRK'S CAVE. 


view of blue mountains and the wide Atlantic 
Ocean. 

On the mainland of Africa, which is not far 
away across this same Atlantic, there are many 









80 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


other cave-dwellings, some in Algeria and others 
in the South. In Basutoland, for instance, natives 
still live in caverns which were inhabited by their 
ancestors the Bushmen. 

One of these South African caves is very large, 
and a whole tribe shelters in it, another cavern 
near at hand being used for the cattle. 

On the rocky walls of this place are to be seen 
some of the quaint, uncouth portraits of animals 
which were drawn long ago by the prehistoric 
artists. 

In China and other parts of Asia there are also 
caves which are used as homes, but perhaps the 
most interesting of all these primitive dwellings 
are those in a range of mountains called the Sierra 
Madre, in Mexico. 

In this district, as in Africa, remains of ancient 
cave homes are still to be found, and no doubt 
many of the present rocky homes have been 
inhabited for hundreds, or even, perhaps, 
thousands of years. 

Some of these Mexican caves are large and are 
divided into a number of rooms. A low wall at 
the entrance serves as a protection against bad 


CAVE-DWELLINGS 


81 



MEXICAN CAVE-DWELLINGS. 


6 







82 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

weather, and often a terrace of adobe, or sun¬ 
baked mud, is built in front. The inner walls of 
the home are plastered with mud, and skins of 
deer and other animals are spread out on the hard 
floor. 

There is very little furniture in these caverns. 
Three stones in the centre of the floor serve as a 
fireplace, and the smoke finds its way out at the 
entrance, or through cracks in the rock above. 

When the cave-dwellings are situated high up 
on the steep mountain-side, wooden ladders lead 
up to them, or sometimes rough steps are cut in 
the cliff, or a notched tree-trunk is used as a stair¬ 
case. 

Besides these cave-dwellers in different parts of 
the world, who have chosen their strange homes 
or have inherited them from far-off prehistoric 
ancestors, there have been many fugitives or ship¬ 
wrecked sailors who have been obliged to take 
shelter in caverns. 

The best known of these is Alexander Selkirk, 
who lived for more than four years in a rocky hol¬ 
low on the island of Juan Fernandez, and who 
was the original of the famous story-book hero, 
Robinson Crusoe. 


CHAPTER IX 
MOVING HOMES 


H owever charming our homes may be, 
it is probable that most people wish some¬ 
times that houses were movable, and that 
they could now and then change their surround¬ 
ings completely. It would be delightful to wake 
up in the morning and find a new view outside the 
windows, to have green fields, perhaps, instead 
of streets, or a south aspect instead of a north one, 
and to be able to go out of doors and walk along 
fresh pathways and through unknown woods and 
meadows. 

We have all, I am sure, often envied gipsies, 
with their freedom and wandering lives, and 
wished that we, too, could have a gaily painted 
red or yellow van, an old horse to drag it, and a 
new camping-ground every night. 

In thinking about moving homes it is well to 
begin with the gipsies, for we are all of us familiar 
83 


84 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


with the sight of these curious people who wander 
about through England, and, indeed, through all 
the world, with no fixed place of abode, but with 



GIPSY CARAVAN. 


customs, legends, and a language that are all their 
own. 

Nobody really knows where the gipsies came 





















MOVING HOMES 


85 


from in the first place, but it is said that they are 
of Oriental origin, and that their name means 
Egyptian. They have always had bad characters. 



MOTOR CARAVAN. 


and have been called thieves and vagabonds, but 
in spite of their faults, they are an interesting 
people, and there is no more picturesque sight 
than a gipsy camp in some wood or by the side of 










86 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

a road, when the women with their gay-coloured 
handkerchiefs on their heads are bending over the 



DUTCH BARGE. 


cooking-pot at the wood fire, and the dark, bright¬ 
eyed children are playing noisily on the grass. 
Nowadays many people hire vans and pass their 





















MOVING HOMES 


87 


summer holidays as amateur gipsies, and lately 
even motor caravans have been seen on the 
English roads. 

Other moving homes in Europe are the barges 
of Holland, which travel slowly from place to 
place along the canals. They have whole families 
on board, who, parents, children, and little black 
dogs, seem to lead very happy and comfortable 
lives in the long, low-lying boats. 

People who spend their time in wandering 
about are called nomads. Perhaps the best- 
known nomads in the world are the Arabs who 
live in the great sandy deserts of Asia and Africa, 
and who, with their tents, their camels, and their 
herds of goats and sheep, move from place to place 
in order to buy and sell merchandise, or in search 
of food and water. 

All travellers to the East have seen the long 
lines of the Arab caravans on their journeys, the 
camels with their heavy loads of household gear, 
or with the quaint palanquins in which the women 
travel, the men on horseback or driving the herds, 
the children and the fierce, unkempt-looking 
watch-dogs. At sunset the camp is seen near 


88 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

some desert well or under the palms of an oasis, 
with the dark low tents, the fire kindled for the 
evening meal, and the snarling camels with their 



ARAB TENTS. 


bundles of green fodder or outspread cloths of 
grain. 

In the old days of the South African colonies 
many English and Dutch people led nomadic 
lives, travelling across the plains in tilted waggons 
which were drawn by teams of long-horned oxen. 

These waggons made very comfortable moving 
homes, but often great dangers and hardships 






MOVING HOMES 


89 


used to be encountered during the journeys into 
unexplored districts. Flooded rivers would have 



BOER WAGGON. 


to be forded, unhealthy swamps crossed, and, 
besides, the waggon and its occupants might have 






90 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

to be defended against attacks of savages or fierce 
wild beasts. 

Many of the tribes in Siberia are nomadic and 
wander from place to place with their tents and 



SIBERIAN NOMADS. 


their herds of horses, cattle or reindeer. In the 
winter these people live in great encampments 
and their tents sometimes stretch for miles at the 
foot of the mountains. 

From Asia we go across the Pacific Ocean to 





MOVING HOMES 91 

America, and there, both in the North and the 
South, we find many nomadic tribes. 

Among the most curious are the Patagonians, 
who in old times were believed to be a race of 
giants. The word Patagonian means large feet, 
and most likely this name was given because all 
the people, even the little children, wear boots 
made of rough leather. 

These natives live in tents which are divided 
into several apartments. There is a roofiess 
enclosure in front, where the fire is lit. The tent 
itself is made of skins, and on the upright posts, 
which form the supports, and which extend above 
the roof, large pieces of raw meat are fixed in 
order that they may be dried by the sun and the 
wind. The Patagonians are great horsemen and 
often go for long hunting expeditions. They use 
a very curious weapon called the ‘‘bolas,’’ which 
consists of several balls fastened together with 
thongs of leather. When this weapon is fiung at 
an animal it becomes entangled in its legs, throw¬ 
ing it to the ground and enabling it to be 
captured. The men are wonderfully skilful 
in the art of throwing the bolas, and little 


92 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


boys may be seen practising on dogs with a 
small weapon. 

Below Patagonia are the Strait of Magellan 
and the island of Tierra del Fuego, and here, too, 
we find a nomadic race, who are besides the most 
southern inhabitants of the world. These are the 
Yahgan Indians, and they live in rough wigwams 
made of boughs of trees over which skins are some¬ 
times stretched. 

The Yahgan huts are among the most primitive 
dwelling-places in the world, for they have no 
windows or chimneys, and the smoke of the fire, 
which is kindled inside the wigwam, has to escape 
as it can through the entrance or through cracks 
in the roof. 

The Yahgans sometimes stay for a long time in 
one place, only moving when they find that they 
cannot procure food or water. They are quite 
uncivilised, and terrible stories are told of their 
cruelty to sailors who have been shipwrecked on 
the dangerous shores of their island. 


CHAPTER X 

EGYPT 

W E have all heard of the unchanging East, 
but if vve want to understand what the 
words really mean, we must go to Britain’s 
most recent possession, Egypt. 

There we shall see homes exactly like those in 
which people lived thousands of years ago, and 
men working in the fields and filling the irrigation 
trenches on the Nile bank just as their ancestors 
worked in the far-off days, w^hen the Pharaohs 
reigned and when the children of Israel toiled 
through hot, sunny days at their thankless tasks. 

In the cities of Egypt, such as Cairo and 
Alexandria, w^e find a strange niixture of dwell¬ 
ings. Modern buildings, such as may be seen in 
Paris or London, crowd against tall. Oriental 
houses w^ith flat roofs, alcoved courtyards, and 
carved wooden balconies and shutters. In the 
narrow streets, or bazaars, are quaint, open shops, 
93 


94 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

where the merehants sit eross-legged among their 
wares and bargain noisily with eager customers 
over scarlet leather slippers, brass pots and trays, 
or slender glass bottles filled with geranium, 
amber, and other curious perfumes. 

The people who throng these streets are no less 
interesting and varied than the buildings. Here 
are tall Bedouin Arabs, in their white burnouses 
and flowing, graceful robes ; ebony-faced Nubians 
with flashing eyes and teeth; brown Egyptians; 
Jews, Turks, and all sorts of other people. 

There are always numbers of donkey-boys in 
the streets of an Egyptian town, each leading his 
animal, which is decorated with gaily coloured 
bead necklaces and has its coat clipped into 
elaborate patterns. These donkeys are given 
English names by their little masters, and we are 
told that “ Lord Kitchener” is the best galloper 
in Cairo, and that ‘‘Gingerbread,” “Cromer,” 
or “ Chocolate,” may be secured for two shillings 
an hour. 

However, strange and fascinating as Egyptian 
town life is, if we .want to see the real unchanging 
East, we must leave the noise and brilliant colour 


EGYPT 


95 


of Cairo behind us and travel southward up the 
great highway of the Nile, past the huge ruined 
temples, relies of the seienee and artistie skill of 
ancient times, and the barrages and dams that are 
the wonders of our modern world. 



HOUSES OF SUN-BAKED MUD. 


Here, on either bank of the river, as our steamer 
glides along, we see mud-built villages looking 
like brown islands in the vivid green sea of the 
growing crops. 

The homes of the peasants, or fellaheen as they 






96 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


are called in Egypt, are very simple and primitive 
buildings, fashioned of sun-baked mud, and as 
one house crumbles to pieces, another is raised on 



A NURSERY AT THEBES, UPPER EGYPT. 


its ruins. Gradually the whole village rises higher 
and higher, until at last it stands upon a broad 
mound of dusty earth. 





A Si kKKi i\ ('mko 







































































































4 



EGYPT 


97 


The houses themselves, although they look 
picturesque when seen from a distance, are really 
squalid and dirty. These people seem to have 
no idea of making their homes comfortable. As 
we ride through the narrow pathways between 
the huddled dwellings, we catch sight, through 
the narrow doorways, of dark bare rooms and of 
untidy little courtyards littered with rubbish and 
heaps of fodder. 

The roofs of the houses are flat. Rough, out¬ 
side staircases lead up to them, and here stores of 
fuel are piled. The villagers have watch-dogs, 
fierce, wild-looking creatures, and these stand on 
the roofs or on the low walls of the courtyards and 
bark loudly at any passers-by. 

In some of the villages near Luxor, in Upper 
Egypt, there are very strange structures which 
look like gigantic mushrooms hollowed out at the 
top. These, the natives tell us, are nurseries,’’ 
and in the hot summer-time the little children are 
put into the shallow, cuplike enclosures and are 
there safe, out of reach of scorpions and dangerous 
snakes. 

Other curious features in the Nile villages are 

r 


98 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 



EGYPTIAN VILLAGE AND PIGEON-TOWER. 


the pigeon-houses, often very large and much 
more imposing in appearance than the dwellings 
of the people themselves. These pigeon-cotes, 










EGYPT 


99 


strangely enough, are not made in the same shape 
as the other buildings, but are copied exactly from 
the pylons, or great gateways, of the ancient 
temples. 

The Egyptian peasants keep goats and cattle. 



THE LATE KHALIFa’s HOUSE AT OMDURMAN. 


and every morning the animals are taken out from 
the villages and tethered in the fields where they 
graze all day. In the evenings they are driven home 
again, and the long lines of buffaloes, camels, 
and goats are guided by boys and gaily clad little 






100 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


girls along the narrow, dusty pathways that lead 
through green clover-fields and along the high 
river-bank. 

It is a wonderful sight, and reminds one of 



SUDANESE HUTS. 

some beautiful picture of Eastern life, for high 
overhead the sky is aflame with the rosy radiance 
of the afterglow, and blue trails of smoke drift 
across the level green fields from the villages where 
fires have been kindled for the evening meal. 






EGYPT 


101 


The long lines of home-going cattle are met »by 
other processions, for this is the hour when the 
women come from their houses, and with great 
earthenware jars on their heads go down to the 
river to fetch water. Even tiny children help 
their mothers at this work, and we see them skil¬ 
fully balancing the heavy water-pots on their 
heads, and, with skirts held high, wading into the 
brown shallows of the Nile. 

As we go farther south we leave Egypt with its 
green fields and ancient temples behind us, and 
come to the Sudan, a great country which until 
1898 was under the cruel rule of the Khalifa. In 
those days thousands of the natives were killed 
and their homes destroyed, but now new villages 
have sprung up, and there are mud-built towns 
stretching along the river bank. 

Some of the Sudanese houses, especially those 
which belong to the richer natives, are quite im¬ 
posing buildings, with windows, large courtyards 
and verandas. Farther south still, we reach the 
wild forest lands of Central Africa, and here, in 
the clearings, are beehive-shaped huts made of 
reeds and plaited palm-leaves. 


CHAPTER XI 
THE ARCTIC REGIONS 


W E have seen many strange and interest¬ 
ing homes in all the great continents—in 
Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Aus¬ 
tralia. Now we must leave the warm countries 
and the tropical forests behind us, and go north¬ 
ward up to the top of the world. There, in the 
lands of ice and snow, the region of midnight mid¬ 
summer suns and dark winter days, we shall find 
dwelling-places and curious tribes of people that 
are well worth a visit. 

We will go first to the north of Europe and see 
the Laplanders who live within the Arctic Circle, 
above Norway and Russia. 

These Laplanders are quite unlike the people 
of other European countries, for they are short 
and dark, with broad, flat faces and narrow eyes. 
They live in small huts or in tents, and often move 
from place to place. Instead of horses and cattle, 
102 


THE ARCTIC REGIONS 


103 


large herds of tame reindeer are kept by the 
Lapps. They milk these animals, eat their flesh, 
use their skins for their clothes and for tent cover¬ 
ings, and also employ them to draw sledges across 
the frozen snow. 



A LAPLAND HUT. 


From Lapland we go to Greenland, and here 
we find the Esquimaux, who are not unlike the 
Lapps in their appearance, habits, and dress. In 
old times explorers travelling north in search of 
a new route to India looked upon the Esquimaux 





104 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


as curiosities, and in the reign of Queen Elizabeth 
we hear of travellers bringing some of them home 



LAPLAND TENTS. 


from Greenland and exhibiting them to the 
London citizens. 

In old eighteenth-century books five find 
descriptions of the Esquimaux and their homes. 





105 


THE ARCTIC REGIONS 

and since then there have been few changes. We 
can see this if we read the accounts of Dr. Nan¬ 
sen’s journey across Greenland about twenty 
years ago. 



A STOREHOUSE, LAPLAND. 


ITie people on the east coast live in huts made 
of earth and stone in the winter-time, and in the 
summer they have large tents. Several families 
share a tent, which is divided off by low partitions. 
The tent itself is made of skins, and at the door¬ 
way a skin curtain is hung to keep out the cold 











106 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


wind. To Europeans the Esquimaux tents and 
huts seem to be terribly hot and ill-ventilated, for 
numbers of large oil-lamps are kept burning day 
and night, but the Greenlanders themselves are 
quite eomfortable and contented in their stuffy, 
dirty dwellings. 

The greater part of the floor in one of these 
Arctic homes is taken up by a platform spread 
with skins, on which the people sleep, and above 
hangs a wooden rack, on which wet clothes can 
be dried. 

The oil-lamps are used as cooking-stoves, but a 
good deal of the food, chiefly meat and fish, is 
eaten raw. 

On the Arctic coasts of America there are other 
tribes of Esquimaux, and many of these in the 
winter live in huts made of frozen snow. Snow 
houses! The words make one shiver, but in 
reality these strange homes are very snug and 
warm. They are easily built, too, and in a few 
hours a couple of men can make a hut that will last 
for months. 

The Esquimaux first choose a suitable place for 
their winter camp, where there is some shelter 


THE ARCTIC REGIONS 


107 


from the wind and where the snow is firm and 
hard. They then take out their knives, made of 
bone or iron, and cut the snow into hard, thick 
blocks. These are piled skilfully one on another 
until a dome-shaped hut is made. When it is 



GREENLAND SNOW HUT. 


finished a low doorway is cut in one side. A lamp 
is then lit in the interior of the hut, skins are 
spread out on the floor and hung over the door, 
and the winter quarters of the Esquimaux are 
complete. 






108 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


In other districts the natives live in huts hol¬ 
lowed out of the ground and approached by nar¬ 



row passages, for in that land of terrible winds and 
snowstorms ordinary houses and tents would be 
blown down and destroyed. 





THE ARCTIC REGIONS 


109 


The Esquimaux are a very kindly, hospitable 
race, and they are always delighted to welcome 
strangers and greet them with broad smiles, 
which make even their plain faces—and some of 
them are very plain indeed—look pleasant and 
attractive. 

The dresses of these people are made of skins, 
the women’s costumes being very like those of 
the men. A large fur-lined hood is worn, and in 
this the Esquimaux mothers carry their babies. 

In some parts of Labrador, however, there is 
an even stranger custom, for there the women put 
the babies inside their large boots, which have a 
flap in front for the purpose. 

The Esquimaux are very kind to their children, 
but the little boys and girls are soon taught to 
work and make themselves useful. The boys 
learn how to fish, to hunt, and to drive the sledge- 
dogs, which in the Arctic regions are used instead 
of horses. 

Little whips and sets of harness are given to 
the children, and with these they drive teams of 
savage, rough-haired puppies across the frozen 


snow. 


110 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


In play-hours the boys amuse themselves with 
tobogganing, and as wood is very searce large 
blocks of snow are used as sleds. 

The little Esquimaux girls learn how to fish, to 



A KORYAK HOUSE, SIBERIA. 


prepare food, and to make clothes out of seal and 
otter skins. 

In an Arctic camp or village there is usually a 
storehouse raised above the ground on high poles, 















THE ARCTIC REGIONS 


111 


and here frozen meat and fish is kept out of the 
,way of lynxes, wolverines, and other hungry .wild 
animals. 

The Esquimaux are very fond of singing and 
dancing, and they also love to listen to long stories, 
which they tell to each other as they sit in their 
warm huts during the long, dark winter days. 

In far away Siberia the Koryaks build a peculiar 
house of wood, with a roof spread out like a mush¬ 
room. In winter, when the snow is very deep, 
and they cannot open the door, they enter their 
home through a hole in the roof. 


CHAPTER XII 

HOUSES IN TREES 


A HOUSE in the tree-tops! The words re¬ 
mind us of ‘‘ Peter Pan/’ and bring to us 
visions of Wendy and her brothers and of 
their delightful little fairy like home. It is not 
only in plays and story-books, however, that sueh 
dwellings are to be found, and if we travel into the 
out-of-the-way plaees of the world—into the East 
Indian Islands, for instanee, or the tropical forests 
of Central Africa—we shall find real tree-top 
houses inhabited by real people. 

Some of the African tree-homes look, from a 
distance, exactly like huge birds’-nests, and in 
Ysabel, one of the Solomon Islands, huts have 
^ been seen in trees that are more than a hundred 

and fifty feet high. 

The reason why the natives of these places build 
themselves such curious dy^ellings is that they 
belong to wild and savage races ,who are often at 
112 


















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HOUSES IN TREES 


113 


war among themselves. A family living in a tree- 
top house is more or less safe from the attacks of 
its neighbours, for the ladders, made of wood or 
twisted creepers, which they use to reach their 



IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 


homes, can be drawn up, and the hut secured 
against a sudden assault. 

In other districts people raise their houses above 
the ground so that wild animals may not be able to 

8 





114 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


reach them, and when trees are not used, the huts 
are built on high posts. 

Many of these houses, which seem to be stand- 



HUT IN EAST CENTRAL AFRICA. 


ing on several slender legs, are very curious-look¬ 
ing places, especially those in New Guinea. Here 
numbers of the natives, instead of living in villages, 








HOUSES IN TREES 


115 


often inhabit one huge hut, which is divided by 
partitions, each family having an apartment to 
itself. These houses, which are raised on posts 
and have high, thatched roofs, are sometimes as 
much as eight hundred feet in length. 

The natives of New Guinea, or Papua, as it is 
sometimes called, are among the fiercest and most 
uncivilised races in the whole world. The children 
are neglected by their parents, there are no 
schools, and they are allowed to run wild in the 
woods and on the beach. Like children all the 
.world over, however, these little savages have their 
own toys and amusements. Leapfrog is a favourite 
game, and they are fond, too, of playing at sol¬ 
diers with toy spears and bows and arrows, of 
dressing themselves up and wearing masks made 
of leaves and grass, and of pretending to be pigs, 
kangaroos, and other wild animals. 

The older girls and the women often perform 
strange dances, and very curious they look with 
their tattooed and painted faces, bushy hair, and 
short, stiff grass petticoats. 

In some of the East Indian Islands and in the 
Malay Peninsula the huts are built on posts over 


116 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


the water of a river or on the seacoast, high poles 
being firmly planted in the mud or sand, and the 
house built on these. The natives learn to swim 
almost before they can walk, so there is little 



HOUSE BUILT ON PILES, JAVA. 


danger even when the babies fall out of their homes 
into deep jvater. 

Not far from Papua is the Dutch colony of Java, 
and here, too, the houses are raised above the 








HOUSES IN TREES 


117 


ground on piles. The natives of Java are mueh 
more eivilised than those of New Guinea, being, 



IN HOLLAND. 


indeed, more like the Siamese, and they look very 
pieturesque in their bright-eoloured dresses, with 









118 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


flowers in their hair. These people are fond of an 
outdoor life, and can often be seen bathing and 
washing their clothes in the river, and even eating 
their meals and sleeping in the open air. The 
furniture of a Javanese house is very simple, and 
consists chiefly of a cooking-stove made of dried 
mud, and a few pots and dishes. 

The people themselves are a merry, light¬ 
hearted race, fond of all sorts of gaiety, and 
delighting in bright colours, dancing, flowers, and 
sweet perfumes. They have many games and 
amusements, and in the monsoon season, when 
there are high winds, numbers of children, and 
grown-up people, too, may be seen flying kites. 
These kites are shaped like animals, birds, or 
dragons, and the wind makes a strange singing 
noise as it whistles through the strings to which 
they are attached. 

From the warm countries of the South we must 
go northward now to America, and there also we 
find strange nestlike homes. These are the cliff 
houses of King Island, which is situated in the 
Behring Strait. Built on high poles and propped 
against the side of a steep cliff, they look very 


HOUSES TREES 119 

much like swallows’ nests under the eaves of an 
English cottage. 

Sometimes these huts are raised more than 
twenty feet above the ground. They are made 
of walrus-skins stretched over a strong wooden 



A TROPICAL BUNGALOW. 


framework, and the interior is divided into living 
and sleeping rooms. There is a small hole which 
serves as a door, and sometimes small windows are 
to be seen, but these are not very necessary, 
because the walrus-hide of which the walls are 






120 HOMES IN FOREIGN LANDS 


made is oiled, and admits a good deal of light into 
the hut. 

These quaint homes, which are kept very clean 
by their owners, are only used in summer-time, 
the natives moving away into less airy quarters at 
the approach of the Arctic winter. 

We need not, however, go as far afield as 
Behring Strait or Java to find homes raised above 
the ground, for even at Marken, in Holland, they 
are to be seen. This village is situated on a nar¬ 
row strip of land which is almost surrounded by 
the sea. There are often severe fioods, and if the 
cottages, instead of being raised up on stiltlike 
posts, were built on the ground, they would soon 
be swamped and destroyed. 

In many tropical colonies the bungalows are 
built on posts or concrete and brick columns, so 
that the woodwork shall be preserved from ants 
and other unpleasant crawling insects. 


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